Turkish border police wounded in clashes on Turkey-Syrian border

May 02, 2013|Reuters

ANKARA, May 2 (Reuters) - Five Turkish border guards werewounded in a clash at the Syrian border with an armed group thatone Turkish official described as smugglers but an oppositionactivist suggested may have included rebel fighters of the FreeSyrian Army.

Turkish media said 10 people, including civilians, werewounded in the clash at Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, oppositeSyria's Tel Abyad gate.

Private broadcaster NTV said the Syrians had been waiting tocross at the border gate, and opened fire when they were refusedentry.

A Syrian opposition activist said two rebel fighters werekilled in the clash, but a Turkish official, who spoke oncondition of anonymity, said the Syrians were smugglers and thefive wounded were guards.

Reuters could not independently verify any of the reports.

Rebels from the Free Syrian Army, a loose collection of armydefectors and volunteers battling President Bashar al-Assad'sforces, regularly cross from Turkey, where they have been givensanctuary, into Syria to launch attacks on the army.

Smugglers and rebels also cross over to carry supplies likemedicine and blankets to fighters inside Syria and to bring backwounded fighters and civilians as well as refugees into Turkey.

Still photographs from Turkey's private Dogan news agencyshowed smoke rising from the border crossing, with a fire engineat the scene. One photograph showed a wounded man being loadedonto an ambulance. Broadcaster CNN Turk said cars at thecrossing were set on fire.

Turkey is now sheltering more than 300,000 Syrians who havefled the fighting in their homeland, most of them in camps alongthe 900-km (560-mile) frontier, and is struggling to keep upwith the flow of new arrivals.

Ankara has denied previous reports that it has stopped entryto Syrians trying to cross into Turkey, saying it operates anopen door policy but that at times it need to regulate the flowof refugees across the border.

The U.N. refugee agency criticised Turkey in March forsending home at least 130 Syrians in what some witnesses saidwere forced evictions following a riot at one refugee camp.Turkey denied it deported the Syrians.

The incident on Thursday was a reminder of the strains facedby neighbouring countries as violence from the civil war inSyria, now into its third year, spills across its borders.

In October, five Turkish civilians were killed in Akcakalewhen a mortar bomb fired from Syria landed on their house,prompting Turkey to fire back across the frontier.